Ezekiel 7 is initially about the disaster coming on the people still living in Jerusalem. Ezekiel was a priest and among those taken into captivity (1:1) some years before Jerusalem is destroyed. Those taken away are earnestly hoping to return to the land of their birth, but God gives Ezekiel only bad news for them.

The words he writes appear to have an application beyond the destruction of Jerusalem at that time – and we know there was a great destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple after the time of Jesus, for example. Yet the language of Ezekiel also suggests a potential application in these final days. As more people turn their minds away from a belief in God contemplate His attitude here and His actions.

Many people live only for the moment, for opportunities to follow their desires. Note the words of the Lord, “Now the end is upon you, I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations, my eye will not spare you … I will punish you for your ways … Thus says the Lord GOD; Disaster after disaster! Behold, it comes. An end has come; the end has come …” (verses 3-6).

This language is so emphatic that we are convinced it has a wider application than the impending news about the fall of Jerusalem. God’s words through Ezekiel are repeated with emphasis in verses 10,11: “Behold it comes! Your doom has come; the rod has budded. Violence has grown up into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, nor their abundance, nor their wealth …” The abundance of Jerusalem had already been dissipated by previous conquests, so this is looking to more than the immediate situation.

When we came to Luke 4 we note the preaching of John the Baptist which has also not yet been fulfilled! He speaks about the work of the Messiah that “his winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (verse 17). That has not happened – yet. Long-range prophecies are a feature of God’s word! What shocks await our world? God says, “I will punish you for all your abominations … disaster after disaster, behold it comes”.

It was 20 years ago TODAY that the massive twin towers collapsed in New York! How long before Christ comes? Are you ready? We will all need “the strength that God supplies” – see 1 Peter 4:7-11.